Should We Give Politicians the Power to Swap Campaign Cash for Corrupt Earmarks?

by Dan Mitchell | Jan 11, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending

This is depressing. Republicans botched the repeal of Obamacare. They’ve already sold out (twice!) on the spending caps in the Budget Control Act, and they’re about to do it again. And now they want to bring back earmarks. In this interview with Neil Cavuto, I explain...

Restricting the Deduction for State and Local Taxes Is a Big [Expletive Deleted] Deal

by Dan Mitchell | Jan 2, 2018 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation

During the Obamacare bill-signing ceremony, Vice President Biden had a “hot mic” incident when he was overheard telling Obama that “this is a big f***ing deal.” And he was telling the truth. It was a big deal (albeit a wrong deal) from a fiscal perspective and a...

The (Spending) Nightmare Before Christmas

by Dan Mitchell | Dec 24, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending

Yesterday’s column about “the tax nightmare before Christmas” was based on my fear that politicians will try to impose a value-added tax at some point in the not-too-distant future. Today’s column is about the spending nightmare that is already happening. The bottom...

The Win-Win-Win-Loss of Tax Reform

by Dan Mitchell | Dec 21, 2017 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation

Now that we have a final bill rather than a mere “agreement in principle,” let’s step back and consider some implications of tax reform. There are three reasons to be pleased and one reason to worry. Win: Less-destructive federal tax code There are several provisions...

The Greek Experiment: Can an Economy Be Wiped Out by Taxation?

by Dan Mitchell | Dec 16, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation

Greece has confirmed that a nation can spend itself into a fiscal crisis. And the Greek experience also has confirmed that bailouts exacerbate a fiscal crisis by enabling more bad policy, while also rewarding spendthrift politicians and reckless lenders (as I...